14
Cows for Americaby Carmen Agra Deedyillustrated by Thomas Gonzalez

14 Cows for America is a beautifully illustrated book that
tells the true story of how one small African village was so moved by
tragic events of September 11th that they decide to send American the
only help they could -- a gift of 14 cows. The villagers learned about
the events of 9/11 from a returning villager, who had been in America
attending medical school. After hearing about the tragedy, they invited the US Ambassador to visit
their village, and when he did, they performed a ceremony and presented
their gift of 14 cows--a tremendously generous gift in their world-- to
help Americans in their recovery.

We love
this extraordinary and touching true story and its beautiful
illustrations, but there is one important thing that adults need to consider before
reading this book aloud to kids. The book presupposes that the
audience is
quite familiar with the terrorist attacks on September 11th, yet we
think many children in thebook's intended audience would either not
know about it (younger children) or have only a minimal understanding
of what happened (older children). The text describing the man's
account of September 11th does not directly refer to the attacks but
simply says, "Buildings so tall they can touch the sky? Smoke and dust
so thick they can block out the
sun?
Fires so hot
they can melt iron?" The intended
audience of 2nd to 5th graders were all
born after
the attacks and therefore these events are not 'burned into memory'
like they are for us adults. Most children will probably miss
this indirect reference.

We mention this simply as something
to consider before reading 14
Cows for America to your child or class. Teachers
or parents may want to stop at the point in the story where the attacks
are referenced and either directly state that he is talking about the
terrorist attacks of 9/11 (if you think the children are familiar with
the
attacks) or stop and simply state that the storyteller is sharing a
story about how some people in America were hurt in an accident (for
younger kids.)

Despite this rather significant caveat, we've
decided to include 14
Cows for America on our list of 'best books' about giving
and generosity because it is so beautifully illustrated and
the true
story it tells is very touching. It would be a great springboard for
talking about how the size of the gift is not as important as the
meaning behind it (ie: 14 cows was a huge sacrifice for this tribe, and
while it was not really what was needed and was too small to 'solve'
the problem, it required great generosity and self-sacrifice on the
part of the villagers and showed the depth of their kindness and
generosity.)

Before reading the book aloud, be sure to tell your
class/child that this
is a true story! A spread in the back of the book includes a
picture
of the real individuals involved, a note from the returning medical
student, and an illustration of the special flag that was made to
commemorate the gift. (The flag will hang in the memorial museum in the
rebuilt World Trade
Center.)

Interest
Level: Grade 2-5

See inside14 Cows for America

Below
are sample pages from inside this beautifully illustrated book. The first two spreads show a villager who had been
studying medicine in America returning to his small Kenyan
village for
a visit. In the second spread, the village children had run out to greet him,
and he receives them by touching their head---a warrior's blessing.

And below are a few more pages. The one on the right is part of a spread depicting the ceremony held for the US
Ambassador when the cows were presented as a gift. In addition to
telling this special story, 14
Cows for America provides a peek into the culture,
traditions, and ceremonial dress of Kenya's noble Maasai tribespeople.

Where to now?

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